Broken bones before a wedding? It runs in the family

There are a lot of things that get passed down in families, such as holiday traditions or physical traits. In my family, it’s broken bones before weddings.

Let me explain. I’m getting married in a matter of days, and about five weeks ago, I was working on thank you notes from our wedding shower. I was nearly finished with the notes when the person sitting next to me decided to start a seemingly harmless “pillow fight.”

A few thrown pillows later, the full force of a very heavy couch pillow came crashing down on my left pinky finger, bending it almost completely backward. It’s a pretty embarrassing story, but unfortunately that’s exactly how it happened.

I’ve had a broken bone before, so I have a pretty good idea of what it feels like. I knew instantly that it was probably broken, and X-rays the next day confirmed my suspicions.

Because the pinky finger is so small, I was expecting a two- to three-week healing process with a small cast or splint covering only that finger. But after being outfitted with two massive splints, both of which covered half my left hand and arm, I realized I was sadly mistaken.

So, as you can imagine, this has complicated all of my last-minute wedding planning. But this isn’t the end of the story. As I was talking with my mother about this situation, I was reminded that she, too, broke a bone right before her wedding; in this case, it was her ankle.

Her story is eerily similar to mine in that we were both working on wedding-related tasks when our breaks happened. About five weeks before her wedding, she was sitting on the floor working on wedding programs. After a long time of sitting, she took a few steps and twisted her ankle, breaking one of the bones.

The similarities between our two stories end after that. She got her cast off right before her wedding. I, however, will not be so lucky.

I am facing at least another month in my splint, and because it covers both my left pinky finger and ring finger, I’m going to have to get creative with our ring ceremony.

So, whereas I’m worrying about not being able to exchange rings at my wedding, my mom was worried about walking down the aisle in a boot.

Needless to say, if I ever have any children of my own, I now feel the need to cover them in bubble wrap before their weddings. This is one family tradition I do not want to pass down!